UNM track and field athletes and fans alike faced a bittersweet end — but mostly bitter — to the NCAA track championships.
It started with Sandy Fortner in the heptathlon, who dropped out after the shot put. Because of rainy weather conditions in Eugene, Ore., Fortner, who was ranked fifth going into the event, fouled on all three of her throw attempts, causing her to drop to 22nd in the standings. Fortner then decided to withdraw from the event.
“It was kind of like a comedy of errors.” head coach Joe Franklin said. “There were a lot of expectations all around. Very few people get the opportunity to do what we were trying to do, but it just didn’t happen. We had things go wrong just about everywhere.”
The rainy weather continued to take its toll on the Lobos as the weekend progressed.
Ruth Senior ran the 3,000 meter steeplechase in the rain and took a tumble in the water pit, resulting in a ninth-place finish.
“It was something that we didn’t have to deal with this year,” Franklin said. “We’re hot and dry here.”
Chris Barnicle got off to a good start in the 10,000-meter run, but his shoe came untied in the second lap of the race of the 25 lap race and started to slip off his heel in the wet weather. Later, he was spiked in the heel which caused him to drop out of the race.
Remarkably, nothing went wrong for Deanna Young or Lamaar Thomas, aside from average finishes. Young finished 14th overall in the women’s triple jump with a mark of 41-10.5, while Thomas finished 22nd overall in the 100-meter run with a time of 10.65.
Jacob Kirwa fared better in the 5,000-meter run, finishing 18th overall with a time of 14:11.83.
In the finals of the 1,500-meter run, Lee Emanuel finished in sixth place with a time of 3:48.61.
Things were looking up for Emanuel as he ran a blistering fast opening lap of 49 seconds in the championship race. He dropped down to fifth place at the 700-meter mark but came back to strong to lead the race around the 1,100-meter mark.
In the last 200 meters, three Oregon runners, including Emanuel’s rival Andrew Wheating, passed Emanuel to take the top three spots.
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“I am devastated,” Emanuel said. “I went out to win, and it didn’t workout today. It was not for a lack of effort or desire. I wanted to go out on a high, and it just didn’t happen.”
Franklin said Emanuel’s competitors expected him to run aggressively from the start, and that’s why it didn’t work this time around. As a result, Wheating won the 800-meter run and the 1,500-meter run, and Emanuel finished in sixth, earning All-American honors.
“Lee, in all of his national championships, he has been very predictable in what he’s done, which is go out very hard and will it through attrition,” Franklin said. “And he’s very., very talented.
Everybody knew what he was going to do… He went, but everybody went with him and he didn’t gap them.”
Franklin said he was proud of the Lobos’ performance, regardless of the results.
“Fortunately, you’re not defined by one episode,” Franklin said. “You’re defined by what you have done over a course of a career, and those kids have done amazing things.”
